ClayShooter

I just took an 07 ES350 UL White/Grey out of Fresno and back to Virginia...love it so far, but you won't be seeing it on any more Cali roads for quite a while! It was a pain to fly out to Fresno for a car and drive it back, but for the color combo and UL package, you just couldn't find them around here for 32k....

Take it from an old time car audio system competitor (IASCA), I have an 07 ES350, UL with Levinson and it is nothing like what you could put in aftermarket for the 3-4k you'd spend on the Levinson. I wouldn't have gotten the Levinson except that it's almost standard in the UL package and is so integrated with the NAV/Bluetooth etc. that unless you just have more money than you know what to do with, it doesn't make sense to tear it out. Don't get a factory Lexus system, go with aftermarket, good head unit, MB Quart speakers and a nice Subwoofer or tubes if you can afford the space in the trunk. You won't be disappointed. I could build a system for $2500 that would leave the Levinson in the dust, although alot of the integration would be gone, so I'll stay with it for now...sigh...Good luck!

For what it's worth, I just bought a 2007 ES350, (Ultra Lux, all options but radar cruise, White/grey) in Fresno CA last Wed. I flew out and drove it all the way back to Virginia, got back last night.

While coming through Arkansas, I too, started noticing the 'gear' type whining noise, esp around 30-50 mph. It's definitely a speed thing, not trans or engine related. I thought it may have been an alignment issue where the 'pads' of the tire wear unevenly and slap along the road.

I had cause to spend a day or two in Nashville on my way back this weekend and got it aligned on Monday morning as I didn't want to eat up a good set of Michelins on the 400 mile drive back to VA. They (local alignment/tire shop) said it was out a little bit, but that the noise was still there. They aligned and rotated and balanced everything, but the noise was still there.

I lucked out and got an emergency apt. Monday afternoon at the Lexus Dealer in Nashville (Madison, north Nashville). They diagnosed it as right front wheel bearing going bad. Said it would be fine to drive back to VA and then to Greensboro NC, the closest Lexus dealer to me (about 100 mi). They didn't seem too concerned and said that as long as I didn't put another 10k miles on it or something stupid like that, that it'd be fine. The car has about 25k mi on it now after putting 2500 on it driving across the country last week. I have an apt. with the Greensboro dealer next Monday and will let you know what I find out. The guys in Nashville said they had never had this occur before, esp on a 25k mile car...Greensboro dealer had to order parts, hence the 6 day wait for the apt., but I'm gonna revert back to driving my old Volvo till I get this fixed, even though it's still well under warranty. Like I said, I'll let you know what finally comes of it.